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Nelly used to walk Bradley Beal to school

Orlando Magic v Charlotte Bobcats, Game 3

CHARLOTTE, NC - APRIL 24: Nelly helps Rufus throw t-shirts out to fans of the Charlotte Bobcats in the game against the Orlando Magic in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2010 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2010 NBAE (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images)

NBAE/Getty Images

I don’t have much to say, besides this is awesome.

Michael Lee of The Washington Post:

Most know him as Nelly, platinum-selling rapper and part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Bradley Beal also knows him as Cornell Haynes, the family friend who would occasionally walk him to elementary school before hitting it big.

Nelly was a former star athlete at University City High in suburban St. Louis, where Beal’s mother, Besta, was a physical education teacher and athletic director. So, Beal can’t remember the first time he met Nelly, only that it was “ages ago.”

“I knew who we was, but I didn’t know,” Beal said of the now 39-year-old Nelly. “He wasn’t as big as he is now, but he was an up-and-coming rapper and eventually ‘Country Grammar’ came out” in 2000.


The “Country Grammar” music video was shot in St. Louis and features a neighborhood block party with a ton of extras. Is it possible a young Beal is somewhere in the crowd? I think he would have mentioned that to Lee, but I’m going to watch the video multiple times to see whether I can spot Beal. It’s totally for research, not because I just want to listen to the great song on loop.